867.00/3136: Telegram
The Ambassador in Turkey (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:38 p.m.]
257. My 234, March 31, 2 p.m. and Department’s 118, April 1. midnight. In conversation with Secretary General of Foreign Office, I informed him of contents of Department’s telegram of March 25, to Thurston.53 I emphasized that it had been made clear to Vyshinsky by Thurston that American Government was not in a position to [Page 830] confirm the report, could not be responsible for its authenticity, and desired that no public reference which might be made to the report should indicate that it had come through an American source.
Numan Bey expressed his appreciation and dismissed the matter casually with the remark that Vyshinsky had obviously exaggerated in his talk with the Turkish Ambassador.
Repeated to Kuibyshev.